Typical of many samplers worked in Portsmouth, Sarah’s typical lower band exhibit a house on the left side followed
by a long fence leading to a barn with dovecote. Often referred to as the “House and Barn” group. Sarah commemorated
her paternal grandmother in her sampler worked at Miss Odiorne’s school. Her sister Frances made a sampler at
E. Robinson’s school, also in Portsmouth, commemorating her maternal grandparents William and Anne Seavey. In
1832, their older sister Mary Ann Whidden was teaching needlework in Portsmouth.

Sarah (1814-?) was the second daughter of Joseph Whidden, a farmer, and Abigail Seavey.